Coherent financials may signal challenging times for laser industry
November 7, 2008--Coherent (Santa Clara, CA) announced financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter (Q4) ended September 27, 2008. With net sales of $142.0 million in Q4 compared to net sales of $158.9 million for Q4 2007--an 11% drop, Coherent also announced plans for a "prudent" 5.5% work-force reduction. Orders received for the fiscal year ended September 27, 2008 were $594.0 million, compared to $591.0 million in orders received for the fiscal year ended September 29, 2007.
"An unprecedented set of macroeconomic events led to a disappointing fourth quarter, especially within the microelectronics segment. While there will be ample debate over the timing of a market recovery, we have taken a number of actions to help Coherent weather and emerge from the current environment with a strong product portfolio, income statement and balance sheet. In particular, we continue to drive operational efficiency through our footprint strategy and recent workforce reductions, which are very prudent given uncertain market conditions. We are also pursuing market share gains through the introduction of highly differentiated products, such as the Chameleon Vision. Launched in August 2008, the Vision delivers unrivaled performance for biological imaging in a compact, user friendly package," said John Ambroseo, Coherent's president and CEO.
"We remain fully committed to expanding EBITDA as evidenced by our recent announcement regarding the consolidation of our Munich facility into our Göttingen site. Coupled with our planned exit from our Auburn, California facility, the annual benefits from these two footprint moves will be $8-10 million with the full run-rate savings beginning in July 2009. While these are key elements to EBITDA expansion, revenue and mix are equally important. Based upon current market conditions, it will be difficult to achieve the revenue and product mix assumptions in the original EBITDA plan. Accordingly, the shape of an economic recovery will be the ultimate arbiter of our EBITDA performance exiting fiscal 2010," Ambroseo said.
For more information, visit www.coherent.com.
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